§ MR. M'GOVERNI have to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he will state who was the Auditor who audited the accounts of the Mullingar Lunatic Asylum for the years 1899, 1900, and 1901, and who certified the' accounts were correct for each of these years: seeing that it was afterwards found that the accounts were incorrect for some of these years, will he state what was the amount of rates embezzled by the 1511 Clerk; and whether this Auditor is still employed by the Local Government Board.
MR. WINDHAMIn reply to the first paragraph of the Question, the auditor was Major Eccles, who is still the Auditor of the district comprising Mullingar. Upon his audit for the half-year ended September, 1901, he discovered that frauds had been committed by the late Clerk, and that the earliest fraud took place in that month. Frauds of a prior date were subsequently traced, but they were connected with monies not brought to account in the Asylum books. The Auditor could have had no knowledge of those; they could only have been detected, if by any one, by the Committee of Management or the Resident Medical Superintendent. So far as is known, the amount misappropriated is about £663.
§ MR. M'GOVERNWhy was the Auditor not able to detect the frauds?
§ MR. WYNDHAMHe did.